Apples for making cider

[chefgage]

I have got a new apple press but sadly no apples to press
Has any one bought apples online in fairly large quantities before? I had tried googling but i have not come up with much.

[Crastney]

I've never bought apples in bulk online.
I suspect it'll be difficult - most people looking for apples will ask local orchard owners first.
most orchard owners will already have an outlet for their apples, or will sell locally.

I suggest you find some way of searching locally for farmers who have apple orchards, and approach them to see if they have spare capacity, and/or if they'll sell you some. Or maybe they're thinking of making juice or cider, you could take the press the the apples, rather than bringing the apples to the press....

whereabouts are you located?...

When I did apple pressing to make cider on a larger than small scale - we knew a farmer in Forest of Dean who gave us our first load, 1 tonne, then the next year we bought from Clives Fruit Farm, Upton, then next year we got a half tonne from a family friend with an orchard in Pershore. Since then I've gone to my local pub that has four apple trees in it's beer garden, they don't use the fruit, I take what I want or what's left, and usually make a 5 gallon FV worth.

[chefgage]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Im in north lincolnshire. I think you are right about asking about in my local area. There is a message board at work so i will start there and also ask about if any one knows of any apples on trees going spare

[Crastney]

a recent survey in London found that the most common type of tree is 'apple'. not what you'd expect, but there are loads of them in peoples gardens. There's plenty of unused fruit around if you look for it. I bet a few people at your work have an apple tree, and probably at least one doesn't use the apples.

[Carnot]

It's a bit of a drag but you will find apples for free in your local area if you look hard enough. Often the owner is glad to get rid of them. Ideally you need a mix of cookers and eaters. All eaters will result ins a cider without much bite. The cookers have more tartness due to malic acid and this improves the flavour( in my opinion). Don't forget this pectase.

[chefgage]

Thanks for all the replies. Got to get my apple finding hat on There is a pick your own apple orchard fairly close to me in Grimsby, i have emailed them to ask about cost.

[Dads_Ale]

Get out in your local area and see who has any apple trees. They will probably be glad for you to come and pick them rather than going to waste. Bit of leg work needed LoL

[chefgage]

Get out in your local area and see who has any apple trees. They will probably be glad for you to come and pick them rather than going to waste. Bit of leg work needed LoL

Thats looking like my best bet.

[Robwalkeragain]

Try freecycle or Facebook yeah! It's harvest season and like 1/3 of the houses in our area have apple trees. Used to love October when I was a landscape gardener, free apples for lunch all month. sure you could bribe them with some of the finished product..

[lord.president]

I’ve never bought a single apple or pear yet! Although lve no shame and always have a bucket in the car at this time of the year for any roadside bounty. I picked 2 and a half stone of pears from wasteland last week,Storm Ali kindly blew me another 8lb off a local tree that l can’t even reach the lowest fruit on,roadside picked at least a wheelbarrow full of apples, got two carrier bags off Facebook sales/wants page and my parents neighbours operate a ‘you pick them, have them’ policy on their trees. My mother in law is in Salvation Army and l got another carrier bag of pears from her. I’ve seen at least two houses with boxes/ wheelbarrows of ‘help yourself to free apples’ today alone.
Moral is ‘no shame!’

[Wet Spaniel]

ive knocked on doors before and had great success, especially if you offer a couple of bottles in 'payment'. But also, if you are on Facebook, put apples into the marketplace option - I've just done it for my location as an example and there were four people offering free PYO apples from their gardens within a short drive of my home - hopefully you may find the same for your area.

[chefgage]

Tried the facebook thing and there looks to be some offerings not too far a drive away.